Posted: Dec 11, 2016
BOSTON, Mass.- Five Lions, including sophomore Geoffrey Gray (Newton, Mass.), juniors John Geary (Duxbury, Mass.), Corey Fitz (Los Altos, Calif.) and Michael Sheng (Altadena, Calif.) and freshman Alex Mrusek (Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.), put up double digits in points to power the Emerson men's basketball to a 85-69 win against Curry College in a Sunday afternoon non-conference matchup.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
· Gray and Sheng led the way for Emerson and each recorded double-doubles. Gray finished 8-for-11 with a game high 20 points, 10 boards, four assists and two steals, while Sheng went 4-for-10 in the field and chipped in 17 points, 10 boards, five assists and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe.
· Geary tallied 16 points, three assists and went 4-for-5 beyond the arc as Mrusek put up 12 points, six boards and went 5-for-9 off the bench. Fitz finished with 10 points to match his four assists. Sophomore Mac Sashin (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) had a game-high six blocks and freshman Ben Holding (South Dartmouth, Mass.) added eight points and five assists off the bench.
· Four Colonels recorded double digits scoring efforts. James Pina (Warwick, R.I.), Jason O'Neil (Norton, Mass.) , Luke Schreiner (Breezy Point, N.Y.) and Jared Thorpe-Johnson (Dorchester, Mass.). O'Neil went 7-for-13 and put up a team-high 18 points and eight rebounds with two steals and a block. Schreiner came off the bench and chipped in 13 points, two steals and went 4-for-4 at the line. Both Johnson and Pina put up 11 points each, while Jaelen George-Bellitti (Cambridge, Mass.) recorded a team high seven assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
· Curry put together a 8-2 run within the first two minutes of the first half before Emerson came within two (13-11) on a trey from Gray. Pina put up a layup that gave the Colonels its biggest lead of 10 (21-11) at the 12:23 mark.
· Emerson's offense began to click as Mrusek canned 10 points over the next five minutes to square the game at 25-all with 7:16 left in the half. The Lions kept on rolling and gained its first lead (27-25) after Fitz snuck in a layup.
· After Emerson took the lead away from the Colonels, the Lions pieced a 13-5 streak to balloon their lead to 11 (41-30) with 1:08 left on the clock. Emerson tacked on two more points after Gray took a trip to the charity stripe and entered the locker room with the 43-31 lead.
· Curry pressured Emerson in the paint to begin the second half and canned 11 points to come within three at 45-42 at the 15:47 mark, but the Lions caught steam and poured in 16 points to gain its biggest lead of the game at 19 (61-42) with under 12 minutes to play.
· The last time Curry came within single digits of Emerson was at the 6:36 mark when back-to-back free throws from Thorpe-Johnson put the Colonels within nine.
· Within the last six minutes of the second half, the Lions used a 14-10 streak to seal the lengthy 85-69 win over the Colonels.
UP NEXT
· Emerson takes a short break before they head to California to take on Claremont-M-S in Pomona, Calif. on Wed. Dec. 28 at 9:00 p.m.
· Curry continues play on Fri. Dec. 30 when they head to the Maine Maritime Mariner Classic where they will take on Me.-Presque Isle at 4:00 p.m.
(Game Recap Courtesy of Emerson College Sports Information)
